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Therian Study Alert

The Jackal in the City: An Empirical Phenomenological Study of Embodied Experience Among Therians and Otherkin

The result of FurScience's interviews and focus groups with therians at Anthrocon since 2016 is finally out. Tens, possibly hundreds of therians were interviewed one-on-one in close to hour-long sessions, their responses recorded, transcribed, and later analyzed anonymously. The study was published in The Humanistic Psychologist and is 20 pages long, detailing the experiences of therians and otherkin, along with associated analyses and a suggested re-terming of what we call "mental shifts," at least in the context of psychology.

While most therians will already be familiar with the what this study will reveal, I'd consider this the closest thing to a "therapist's guide" to therianthropy/otherkin that currently exists. It's accessible for $20 through the APA website linked above. For those who would not like to pay for it, I will summarize below:

The study analyzes the experiences of many therians and otherkin and seeks to "destigmatize and depathologize" our experiences. They provide well-structured examples of what we experience, as well as its psychosocial connotations starting from early childhood and into adult life.

They define a therian as "an individual who believes that they

are not human—or at least not completely human. Instead, they identify as a species of non-human animal that either currently exists or has existed and is now extinct," and an otherkin as a person identifying "as a nonhuman being that is typically considered mythical or fantasy-based (e.g., fairy, elf, unicorn)."

They apply Sara Ahmed's work on the ideas of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation to alterhumanity. They dive into our preference for natural environments over manmade ones, our disconnect from other humans and our own bodies, species dysphoria (which they describe but do not explicitly name), and reorientation by means of our own personal image, shifting, seeking out community, and "ontological doubling" - "living [a] human life with its human demands, alongside a pervasive feeling of being out of place."

They suggest the "re-terming" of what we call "mental shifts" and "phantom shifts" and the like as embodied shifts instead, seeing as they involve more than just a shift in consciousness and can include physical sensations (such as phantom limbs) and can occur in response to the environment, by one's own volition, or spontaneously. While some may be against outside individuals coining terms for us, these are professional psychologists and this likely has more to do with their own understanding of us. Per the study:

"Therianthropy and otherkinship are often experienced as an attunement and orientation toward, and a belonging with, nonhuman animals and to the natural world. In connection with their environment, therians and otherkin experience profound changes in which they are less likely to be mindful of their humanness; instead they experience heightened sensations (especially those sensations that are sharp for their theriotype/kintype), increased spatial awareness, phantom limbs (feeling limbs and body parts belonging to their theriotype/kintype), and personality changes (e.g., from passivity to aggressiveness or assertiveness, from anxiety to calmness, introversion to extraversion, etc.). These changes were conceptualized as mental shifts by Grivell et al. (2014), but due to how this experience involves not just a shift in thoughts and emotion, but in the body and their relationship to their environment and to others, we here use the term embodied shifts. By conceptualizing shifting as an embodied experience, we reaffirm that affective [for the uninitiated, "affect" in psychology regards one's physical expression of emotions - gestures, postures, vocalizations, etc.] and behavioral changes, alongside altered states of consciousness, are not experiences located within the individual, but take place in the intersubjective field (e.g., as a reaction to changes in the environment, feeling threatened at work, or experiencing comfort in isolated spaces or with groups of accepting people). Although these experiences can be orienting in terms of the therian’s or otherkin’s experiences of self, allowing them to become reoriented to their environment or situation, it can also be disorienting for them and their social interlocutors."

The conclusion to the paper encourages professionals (therapists and such) to understand us through a lens of cultural humility and provides some hope in that "(perhaps ironically) humanistic psychotherapy..." can provide therians and otherkin some sense of wellbeing.

Overall, this is really good for us. If you are in therapy, do consider forwarding this study to your therapist.

Website Update and Announcement For Major Project

Our website, The Chimeras Library, has been updated.

Changes include:

An Updated "Symbols Found In The Alterhuman Communities" which now includes the symbols for endels, archetropes, and conceptkin!

An overhauled "A Deeper Look Into Cladotherianthropy."

Added a Spanish translation of  "A Timeline of the Therianthrope Community." Translated by the alterhuman aike.

Added a Spanish translation of "A Timeline of the Fictionkin Community." Translated by the alterhuman aike.

Added a Spanish translation of "A Timeline of the Alterhuman Community." Translated by the alterhuman aike.

Added a Spanish translation of "A Timeline of Plant-Identified People in the Otherkin Communities." Translated by the alterhuman aike.

We're also happy to announce a major project we hope to be sharing in the near future.

The Chimeras Archive.

The Chimeras Archive will consist of an ever updating link to a Zotero account hosting citations for the over 500 items of various media related to the alterhuman community, mentioning alterhumans, or of interest to alerhumanity.

Categories that will be included: academic books, dissertations, journal articles, academic lectures, theses, non-academic books, documentaries, lecture or convention panels, magazine articles, zines, TV broadcasts, newspaper articles, radio broadcasts, podcasts, novels, comics, games, movies, plays, and more.

The Chimeras Archive is an updated version of a project we have been working on for the past decade. We are committed to collecting materials as they relate to alterhuman and sharing their existence with others. This includes not only collecting the citations of these many different kinds of media but also acquiring physical/digital copies of these materials.

Unlike our other projects which have designated versions published in pdf form. Our plan is to instead run a live and updating Zotero listing and a document where the same information will be listed in written form.

As this is a massive overhaul of our existing project, the completion into these two formats is taking a significant amount of time please see our "Academic Publications, Non-Academic Publications, Media, Art, and Fiction Related To Nonhumanity" for the previous rendition of this project in the mean time. We plan on releasing links to our Zotero and the live document in the near future once we have had a chance to better layout the groundwork for them.

Plurality is being “more than one” in some way.

Being a system is being “more than one” in some way.

Disordered? You can use the term plural or system.

Non-disordered? You can use the term plural or system.

Trauma-formed? You can use the term plural or system.

Non-traumagenic? You can use the term plural or system.

Created, intentionally or not? You can use the term plural or system.

Median/not completely separate? You can use the term plural or system.

Purely psychological? You can use the term plural or system. 

Spiritual? You can use the term plural or system. 

Fictive-heavy? You can use the term plural or system.

Non-human sysmates? You can use the term plural or system. 

Two folks only? You can use the term plural or system. 

1000+ folks? You can use the term plural or system. 

Formed when you were little? You can use the term plural or system. 

Formed when you were older? You can use the term plural or system.

Figured it out via tumblr or tiktok? You can use the term plural or system.

Literally the only requirement is being “more than one”. That’s how it’s been since the 1990s. The DSM/ICD/etc requirements are only for clinical cases. It isn’t the be all and end all for ALL systems, and science doesn’t prove ANYTHING about systems beyond “yeah there’s something going on here”.

Be kind to systems or plural folk different from you. The boots some of you are licking want to stomp on all of us, your system included.

We’re stronger together.

Protect yourself during earthquakes!

If possible, DROP! COVER! HOLD ON!

Using cane, DROP! COVER! HOLD ON!

Using walker, LOCK! COVER! HOLD ON!

Using wheelchair LOCK! COVER! HOLD ON!

knitting tutorial made by a twenty-something knitting influencer: 18 min long, 12 of those minutes being the intro and a sponsor plug, they show the first few steps of the tutorial at the slowest speed known to man, they show the most important steps at a neck-break speed, they stop every five seconds to talk about what they just did, 40,000 comments filled with questions ranging from insightful to “how do i knit”, filmed with a camera that costs more than a car, the tutorial is incorrect.

knitting tutorial made by a seventy-something grandmother: two min long, filmed 17 years ago, shows you what you want with the skilled patient hands of a beloved deity, made with the world’s shittiest camera, the best video on the fucking internet, four comments and 30 views, you lose the video and never find it again.

#Five

[pt: #five]

Hello. I’m sorry for begging again but my situation is pretty dire.

Recently, I’ve been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, stage 4. It came out of nowhere and was caught by sheer luck on an unrelated test. Stage four means my kidneys are shriveled up and almost dead - currently at only 17% working condition. When it drops to 10%, which is stage 5 (prognosis is within a year) I will require a kidney transplant and/or dialysis. You can not live without it, and prognosis for dialysis/kidney transplant patients are 10 to 20 years. I’m very young and I really would like to continue having a peaceful life and work on my art. I’ve had many hardships before - I’ve fundraised to get money for rent because of a homophobic attack I’ve suffered, I’ve fundraised to escape my country, all within 2-3 years. I’m really grateful for all the help I’ve gotten and I believe in people’s kindness.

Please, if you’re able, share or pitch in to my gfm campaign made by my fiancé. Link in the reblog.

My comms are also still open if you’d like to help in that way and get some art.

game companies should be fucking EMBARRASSED about being inaccessible. it should be mortifying to ship a game with shit captions or no UI scaling options or no option to disable flashing / strobing effects. games lauding their character customization should be laughingstocks for not including hearing aids or congenital disorders or prosthetic limbs. EA should be publicly fucking humiliated for the sims series being 23 goddamn years old and include cats and dogs and horses and werewolves and zombies and mermaids and star wars and not FUCKING WHEELCHAIRS.

Guide to Pluralkit

So pluralkit is a tool used very commonly for plural systems. Basically what it does is proxy who’s speaking (this can have an alters name, pronouns, a custom profile picture, ect.) it’s very easy to use once you get the hang of it!

Step 1. Make yourself a private discord server. The reason why is because that way it’s easier to edit and save what you need in the server.

after this you will need to add pluralkit to the server. You can do this by going to the website (https://pluralkit.me) or clicking the bot in a server you share with it, and adding it to your server.

Okay so after that, set up your server. All it needs is the channels you guys need. Obviously general can be whatever, we use it for bot commands. Would recommend a system chat channel, especially if you cannot speak internally. Other channels that might be helpful, or channels to store picrews and things of that nature, we have one for storing alter intros, if you don’t want to have a psychical diary, you could start one in the private server, and basically anything you need. The idea is that this server only has you guys in it

Step 2. Okay so you’ll need to set up a system now. To get started you’ll need to do pk;s new keep in mind you can only have one system per discord account, and only 1k members (we have heard you can request more in the discord server, but we haven’t tried it ourselves)

Most system servers require a system tag. To set one you do pk;s tag (tag here) tags can be anything in a character limit. Ours is 💙. Some servers don’t like when people have the same tag, so if you need to change it in a server you can do pk;s server tag (tag here)

After setting up your system to add a member you do pk;m new (members name) keep in mind you want it to be one word with no spaces or hard to use symbols. This is so it’s as easy as possible to edit. Also would like to add, if you throw in a image while doing this command, it will set that alters avatar without having to do another command (image below is a random image we had saved) if you are like us, and have alters that share names, it’s best to just add a number (no space still) infront, this makes it way easier to edit.

To set up a display name you do pk;m (members name) dn (what you want it to say, we normally have name and pronouns, and if a alter has like a specific role in the system, sometimes that gets added if the alter wants it)

If you accidentally set the wrong profile picture, or a alter wants a different one for whatever reason, the command is pk;m (name) avatar and then insert the photo

Finally to set a proxy do pk; (member name) proxy (proxy here)text (the text can also be behind the poxy, it just has to be behind or above) proxys can be anything basically! We usually use emojis, although whatever you do, make it something you don’t use. For emojis we have one or two emojis typically that represent the alter, and then the blue heart emoji in front that way if it’s a emoji we use a lot, it isn’t going to proxy us by accident. You can either do the proxy everytime you speak, or do a few commands.

Pk;ap latch this latches to the last used proxy. Good when one alter is having a conversation, but others aren’t.

Pk;ap (name) this latches to the alters name that is used. Does not change until turned off, or switched to a different alter, or auto proxy command.

Pk;ap front this command sets whoever is set as fronting as the auto proxy. The front is set by doing pk;switch (name) To turn off all of these the command is Pk;ap off

Step 3. With pluralkit you can add alters to groups!

To make a group you do pk;g new (groups name) like with the base names you want it to be one word, no spaces or weird symbols.

with groups you can set display names, descriptions, avatars, just for that group!

pk;g description (put the description you want with the command)

pk;g avatar (photo)

pk;g dn (name)

To add members to the group do pk;g (groups name) add (name) (name 2) you can add as many as you want, just make sure to not use commas or and, just name after name separated by a space

Step 4. To set a system/alter description and banner is pretty easy.

For system:

pk;s description (desc goes here)

pk;s banner (add image)

For Alters:

pk;m (name) description (desc goes here)

pk;m (name) banner (add image)

Step 5. Finally, some good commands to just know.

If you react with a question mark emoji on an alter using pluralkit, it gives you information about the person. (Username, ect)

If you have a member you feel needs to be private the command is pk;m (name) private

to delete a member you do pk;m (name) delete and then enter in the code it gives you

to change a alters base name, (not dn) do pk;m (name) rn (new name)

A fun little pluralkit game is going “pk;r (random silly thing here)” Pk;r randomly picks a alter, so putting a random caption over it can be fun sometimes.

if you do set a alters name as something with a space, you’ll have to edit it in qoutes. (Pk;m “Example name with a space” (command)

to look up a list of alters do pk;m list or pk;s list

Thanks for reading! Pluralkit is confusing at first, so we thought we would make a simple guide!

-Carrie + a few others

treat yourself with the kindness that you deserve!

by the way happy trans day of visibility to all the trans systems out there :)

whether you’re a trans headmate or your whole system collectively identifies as trans, we’re out here, we’re beautiful, and we make both the trans community and the plural community more vibrant just by existing in these spaces.

keep moving and shaking things up. keep reaching for your goals and accepting yourselves unconditionally. keep creating and trying new things. keep unabashedly being yourselves. keep your chin up when things get tough. keep shining!

we know it’s not always easy, but we see you, we care about you, and we are so very proud of you. also, we believe in you and know that there are great things in store for you.

trans lives are magic. trans joy is eternal. we hope you can take some time to revel in your own majesty today. we love you. 💙💗🤍💗💙

you know,, i wish plural awareness wasn't confined to small corners of the internet. and i wish that it included everyone. i wish that there were more in-person plural meets or groups. i wish that there was more of systems coming out to singlets offline. i wish that we could wear front indicators or nametags, plural pride attire, clothes that fit our selves. i wish that we could put stickers or posters or zines about systemhood out in public. i wish that we could find each other in the wild and feel less alone. there IS some of it out there, and it makes me so so happy to know that it's achievable, but plural spaces are predominantly online, and i just wish we could be louder offline too. it's definitely scary and not feasible for some, i'm not saying to risk your safety. i just hope more of us can be proud out in-person.

just in case you need to hear it today:

you don’t have to prove your plurality to anyone. if you say that you’re plural, i’ll believe you, and so will so many other systems on this site.

remember that for every fakeclaimer, there’s dozens of people who believe and support you.

your plurality is beautiful and valid and completely unique to you. no two systems experience plurality the exact same way, and that should be celebrated.

Coʊst (pronounced "coast"; phonetically combines "core" and "host")

An alter who is a host, but doesn't fully identify with the term "host" due to complexities of having the original's memories and a strong connection to the original's/the body's history, without being the original or a core.

We couldn't find a pre-existing term, so we made one ourselves to describe Ace. If there's a term that already exists, please do let us know.

The flag is based on/inspired by/takes elements of the core flag (https://pluralpedia.org/w/Core) and host flag (https://pluralpedia.org/w/Host).

Anyone is allowed to use this, just don't involve us in syscourse. If you "have" to know, we are a traumagenic DID system, but again, ANYONE can use our term. Just, you know, credit us.

Edit : By "anyone" we mean any origin/diagnosis status/plurality type/syscourse side/ect

Oh btw if you say you support introjects but are weird about factives of bad people you actually don't support introjects thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Edit from Jonathon: I can't believe I have to add this, but this post was made by a mixed origins system and is NOT intended for anti-endos. Supporting systems means supporting all systems, I would think that should be obvious.

Plurality Practice

Plurality Practice is a sub term under neo-religion in which a system has a system specific spiritual practice.

It can be worshipping in-system gods/deities, following practices from source, having spiritual based plural workings, ect.

[Any system can use this term]

Tagging @ficto-religious-archive

Rb for larger data set yadda yadda

FYI I just came across a thread on twitter which says that an author shared on google docs an explicit story with a friend for beta reading and google removed the file due to violation of TOS (apparently it has been updated where you are not allowed to share anything with sexual content). Not sure if it’s just this instance or if it’s going to become a widespread thing but if you guys write in google docs MAKE BACK UPS!!

(Instagram link to the screenshots)

Edit: also wanted to add that it seems that Microsoft word has the same language in their TOS so onedrive is not a safe alternative!

okay. listen. if you ever find yourself falling into a new ideological circle, pay attention. if you notice that you’re among people who define themselves as part of an “in-group” with a pre-prepared human “enemy” to constantly rail against—if everyone fantasizes about the mental state of these loathsome monsters, if they participate in witch hunts or (perhaps worse) poke bears and court harassment on purpose to comfort each other over—get the fuck out. you haven’t been enlightened to some grand conspiracy, there are no evil “enemies” or “degenerates” trying to rip apart the fabric of society, and you do not have the moral duty to “enlighten” anyone to whatever you think the “truth” is. it’s neither safe nor normal to spend hours of your day fighting with strangers on the internet

a lot of people wear this shit like a badge of honor, but it’s also not normal to hide your “in-group” status as a form of martyrdom, relishing when the “enemy” slips up around you. it’s comforting in the moment, but in the long run, you’re alienating yourself from the world outside of your bubble. the more you alienate yourself, the more vulnerable and lonely you become, and the harder it is to reject the comfort of belonging to the “in-group”

i’m writing this from the perspective of someone who grew up in a cesspool of awful, cult-like rural churches—which is its own situation—but i see similar shit happening in online communities all the time, both within and 800 miles outside of my own ideological principles. yes, every toxicass radfem i block seems to be trapped in a version of this vicious cycle, but i also see it happening in random queer circles and niche fandom communities. no one is immune, not even me. i’ve watched people fall into this shit and never make it out. be careful

i wish the existence of nontraumagenic plurals wasnt seen as "discourse"

i wish my want to feel safe in plural communites wasnt seen as "discourse"

i wish my want of the world to accept my lived experience wasnt seen as "discourse"

talk about nontraumagenic plurals and their place in communities isnt discourse. we are beings that just want to be accepted and feel safe. our existence isnt discourse.

maybe a weird question but can you recommend alt terms for system and collective and the such for a system name? our system doesnt really vibe with either but we dont know what else to use lol

Not a weird question at all!

Here's a great post with a huge list of collective names to use!

Here’s some positivity for endogenic systems!

Endogenic systems, or systems who formed without trauma playing a role, have always been and will always be integral members of the plural community. Our spaces simply would not be what they are today without the efforts of endogenic systems! Y’all belong here and make the plural community a beautiful, vibrant, and more welcoming place. So this post is for all the endogenic systems out there!

💕 Shoutout to spontaneous systems, or those who suddenly or inexplicably became plural for unknown reasons!

🌼 Shoutout to paros and paromancers, thoughtforms, and other consciously created systems and headmates!

💜 Shoutout to systems whose plurality is influenced by daemonism, their spirituality, or imaginary friends!

🌸 Shoutout to endogenic systems who are disabled, whether or not their disability has impacted their plurality in some way!

💙 Shoutout to endogenic artists whose plurality is intrinsically connected to their stories, worlds, or other creative works!

🌱 Shoutout to systems who educate others, advocate for, and spread awareness about endogenic plurality!

💗 Shoutout to systems who are questioning whether or not they have endogenic origins!

🌻 Shoutout to endogenic systems who strive to keep the plural community safe, open, and welcoming to systems of all sorts!

💝 Shoutout to endogenic systems who also have trauma histories, but whose plurality is not tied to or influenced by their trauma in any way!

💐 Shoutout to endogenic systems who have struggled with being fakeclaimed, harassed, or having their plurality questioned in the past!

❤️ Shoutout to endogenic systems who are closeted or who keep information about system origins private!

Endogenic systems, please keep your chin up and know that your plurality is valid, you are real, and you will always belong in the plural community just the way you are! Regardless of how your system formed or how your plurality manifests, we want you to know that you belong here and you make our spaces better simply by existing in them!

We are wishing every endogenic system a future full of peace, joy, and self-acceptance. Know that, while we are always happy to confirm it, you don’t need outside validation in order to prove that your plurality is real - you know yourself and your system better than anyone else! Please try to take it easy and treat yourself and your system with some kindness today. Thank you so much for reading, and take care!

Hi, there. I'm seeking more scholarly, academic or formalized information on endogenic plurality. Could you recommend books? Thank you.

We don't know of any books, but there are academic articles on endogenics!

General Articles:

Enacted Identities: Multiplicity, Plurality, and Tulpamancy: It's talking about plurality, but is heavily focused on the non-traumagenic sides of the community.

Multiplicity: An Explorative Interview Study on Personal Experiences of People with Multiple Selves: One endogenic system took part in the study, and the researchers discuss their overall findings and the possibility of some sort of hereditary component to some systems.

Dissociation and Transformation: Talks about the possibility of dissociation being a symptom of good health, rather than always pathological.

Dissociative Experiences in the General Population (pdf): Surveys a city for dissociative experiences, and found that at least some spontaneous dissociative experiences may be due to endogenous factors.

Alterity: Learning polyvalent selves, resisting disabling notions of the self

Differences Between Trance Channeling and Multiple Personality Disorder on Structured Interview: Compares trance channeling and MPD (what is now called DID), and concludes that differences in experiences may have to do with whether they're trauma-based or not. (Channelers aren't necessarily endogenic, but it does go into why despite having multiple identities, trance channelers don't have DID. This may be relevant for some forms of spiritual endogenic plurality.)

New Age 'Channeling' and Theories of Dissociation: Applying a 'Structural Dissociation of the Personality' Model to the Case of Jane Roberts: A really good thesis comparing a famous channeler (Jane Roberts) with dissociative identity disorder. (Channelers aren't necessarily endogenic, but it does go into why despite having multiple identities she didn't have DID. This may be relevant for some forms of spiritual endogenic plurality.)

Soulbonding:

The illusion of independent agency: Do adult fiction writers experience their characters as having minds of their own?

Uncharted features and dynamics of reading: Voices, characters, and crossing of experiences: Many readers seem to hear the voices of the characters they're reading about in books as they're reading it, with a rare few even hearing their voices even after they're finished reading.

Most Authors Can 'Hear' Their Characters' Voices Talking to Them, Survey Reveals: Up to 63% of authors hear their characters talking to them, showing that this is a fairly common phenomenon.

Tulpas/Thoughtforms:

Tulpas and Mental Health: A Study of Non-Traumagenic Plural Experiences

Varieties of Tulpa Experiences: Sentient Imaginary Friends, Embodied Joint Attention, and Hypnotic Sociality in a Wired World

Learning to Discern the Voices of Gods, Spirits, Tulpas and the Dead: compares and contrasts tulpamancy and other communities centered around voices, spirits or disembodied entities

Hopefully this helps! If any of our followers know of any books talking about endogenic plurality (or any other resources in general) please feel free to add on!

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑜 ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

[Plain text: Introducing The Starflower Trio]

Hello! We're a mediple system of three members, though we have a lot of soulbonds too! Our other blogs are listed under our members section. We're bodily 19 :3

✨ Our members ✨

🫖: Aster┆ae/fae/dae┆host┆fae┆same as body

🌿: lu/luna/ne/nim/dus/dusk┆base┆aviankin┆systeen

🌙: Lunette┆star/dust, ne/nim, moon/light, dus/dusk┆facet of 🌿┆alien┆systeen

pronouns.cc

The Starflower Duet (@The-Starflower-Duet)

@The-Starflower-Duet goes by System name, Irl name and uses They/them pronouns.

Our other blogs

@the-soulbonded-teaparty - blog about soulbonding

@vernon-the-poltergeist - Vernon's personal blog

@atlases-map - Atlas's personal blog

✨ byf ✨

★ We're an endogenic system, so if you don't like that please block us.

★ We're rad incluse (not radqueer)

★ We're trans and non binary heavy, if you're transphobic or ennbyphobic you will be blocked

★ A lot of us use xenogenders and neopronouns

★ Pro good faith and non harmful identities

★ We don't have a dni, but will block as we see fit

★ We are anti harassment